Was Jesus Really of the Lineage of David?

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Question from a Site ViewerHow was he (Jesus) the linage of David? I have not understood this as well. He was the adopted Son of Jospeh who was from the cursed branch of David’s linage. The Messiah was to come from the Blessed Branch which would be Solomon. Also, in one version he was in a manger in a barn, in John I believe they were in a house and in other transcripts they were in a cave. Whew, hard to keep it clear.

I do not question Almighty God. I do however (as told for us to do in Deuteronomy 17: 2-5), investigate anyone who tells me to worship another God, which is what Christians tell you to do. They worship an idol and bow to him and look to him for answers and salvation and love him. In my eyes this robs God of the love that is due to him. I am not saying that Jesus himself meant for that to happen, but it is happening and Christians have forgotten who Jehovah really is. He is a jealous God, and there is none before him. Who shall be exalted as he? None. These are His own words. And what about the things that Jesus did not fulfill while he was here? I have valid questions. It just seems that no Christian can straight answer them. Show me scripture in the Old Testament that backs up who Jesus was. And answer me as to why Jesus’ name was not Immanuel? And also, why did Jesus let people worship him? And why did he break some of God’s commandments? Yes–he did. Wow, I bet you never knew that. I used to be a Christian until I stopped reading just what I was told to study and read. Then I started to understand. I am still trying to understand a lot, and I am still undecided about Jesus. So maybe if you can answer my questions with a bunch of “let Jesus save you and have faith” answers, I can better understand.

Prophecy in Question “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” Micah 5:2 (NKJ)

Fulfillment Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:4-7 (NKJ)

Tim’s AnswerAs for Jesus being of the lineage of David, I take it that your question is based on Luke 3’s genealogy rather than Matthew’s genealogy. In Matthew, Jesus is traced back through Solomon. The differences between the genealogies seem to be linked to the Biblical practice of raising up seed for someone else. Sometimes that offspring is seen to be the offspring of the actual progenitor and sometimes offspring of the one for whom the person was raised. I believe with the early church that the actual lineage came through Nathan but the legal lineage came through Solomon. I think you may have the subject backwards however. Solomon is the lineage you are most likely thinking of as being the “cursed” line, because of Solomon’s failure to follow God. However, I am not prepared to state that which Scripture does not. In 1 Chronicles. 28:9, David says to Solomon that if Solomon forsakes God, God will cast off Solomon forever. There is no similar “curse” on Nathan. However, I do not see this as a curse as much as a warning. After Solomon went astray from God, God continued to give the his seed the throne over Judah, until the captivity.

You make the statement that Jesus broke the law. I would like to know what passage(s) you are referencing. He did not break the Sabbath law, as many have well addressed. He did not break any of the 10 commandments. If He was the God He claimed to be and who the Son was prophesied to be, then accepting worship is no problem.

You seem not to understand what Christians believe. Christians do not believe that Jesus is another God. Christians only confess that which the Old Testament confesses, that there is a complexity within the one God manifested in three persons. See Isaiah 48:16; Genesis 18:2-13, 17-22; 19:24. There are three persons who come to Abraham. One of them is the LORD. In verses 20-21, God says that He will go down to Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse 22, after the two “men” left, Abraham stood before the LORD. In Genesis 19:1, they are called “two angels.” In Genesis 19:22, the angels told Lot that they would not overthrow Zoar. Then, in verse 24, Scripture says that “the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD.” Who rained down brimstone and fire and from whom did it come? In Isaiah 6:8; the Lord asks the question: “Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?” Who is the “Us”? Psalm 45:6-7, whose is the God of God? Is the Son of Proverbs 30:4 the same Son who is Almighty God in Isaiah 9:6 and the same Son in whom we are to trust in Psalm 2:12. We do not believe that the Trinity are three Gods. The mystery of God can never fully be known, but there are three who are revealed as one God. For further discussion, see Zechariah 2:8-9, 10-11. Who is the coming One who will dwell with us? Is He not Immanuel, the God who is with us? And if so, as this passage demands, then who is the One who sends Him? Is He not also God? And who is the One who is given as a “light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes” and the only One with whom God will share His glory in Isaiah 42:6-8. Who alone is savior? (Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4) And what is the relationship between the Servant of Isaiah 52 and 53 and God? And what does Micah 5:2 mean when it says that the one to be born in Bethlehem reaches back to everlasting? There are so many New Testament passages I would like you to consider, but I sense you may have, at the present, more faith in the Old Testament. Nonetheless, I ask who can make the blind see? Who can forgive sins? Who can die for the sins of the whole world? A righteous person might die for one person. And what about the resurrection? Does not that event by itself state that we should pay attention to Jesus and what He says? If His words are not true, then we remain dead in our sins and without hope of forgiveness. How can we approach God apart from Jesus? Where are the necessary sacrifices? How can my sin be covered? And if there is no need to cover sin, then why did God require sacrifices?

Jesus told the hearers of His day that if they did not believe Him, they did not believe the Father. One cannot have One without the Other. They cannot be separated. Either we accept the Son and accept the Father or we reject the Son and reject the Father. You cannot have the God of the First Testament and reject the Christ of the New Testament. They are inseparable.